A python and cockatoos exhibited in a night club: One Voice is filing a complaint

Sentient beings to attract regular customers

Disorientated by bright spotlights and the volume of noise that can be expected from a group of partygoers, an albino Burmese python found himself unwillingly in the midst of an event in which he was used as a common stunt. The inscription “photos with the snake” in large letters on the event flyer already showed what was going to happen..

The photos taken on 7 October unfortunately did not deny the shameful exploitation that this programme foreshadowed. The large reptile was presented at arm's length by one or even two people, for long periods of time, so that the night-owls could be photographed with him, some even going so far as to maul him.

And he was not the only one to be handled and shown like a strange object in this hostile environment: a cockatoo with blue eyes also paid the price for the dubious ethics of both the owners and trainers, forced to be passed from shoulder to shoulder to entertain the, in all likelihood, drunk clients, with the risk of overcrowding or an accident.

The law changes, but not the practices that have been made illegal

As if plunging these animals into an advanced state of stress by exposing them to so many stimuli at once wasn't enough, these actions are illegal. Since 1 December 2021, the law against animal mistreatment has banned animals being presented, whether they are considered to be domestic or not, in night clubs.

Almost two years later, the scarce clear measures of this law that have come into force are not even being followed! Nothing has changed since Micha the bear was used as an attraction in a Parisian restaurant for valentine’s day in 2018 or since a lion cub was shown to the crowd in a night club in Deauville in 2019.

Once again, we are defending these sensitive beings treated as simple toys and filing a complaint before the Perpignan legal tribunal. We are also asking the Pyrénées-Orientales Prefect for the snake and parrot that were victims of the stupidity of the owners of the establishment and the cynical greed of the trainers to be handed over to us as quickly as possible so that their ordeal will end.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice